Pieces Of Darkness
by RegalPixieDust
Summary: Dark Outlaw Queen One-Shots (Dark OQ Week)
1. Chapter 1

**Day one of Dark OQ Week!**

 **Prompt: Getting To Know You.**

 **No beta, so the mistakes are mine, sorryyy.**

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Even though she enjoys his company, she'll never admit it. She fears she'd inflate his ego to the point that he might float away, but _god_ does she enjoy his company.

She's found herself in his camp a number of times, so much so that Robin usually has a spot set up for her to sit around the fire with him in the early hours of the morning when she needs to get away.

It's almost always after a run in with Henry and his valiant efforts to avenge his grandparents' death and 'missing' mother. She's tried explaining everything to him, but it never works. No matter how much she wants him to be her son, he isn't capable of understanding, instead she always finds herself on the worst end of a sword with stinging tears behind her eyes and crippling anxiousness before she poofs out of his sight.

Tonight is no different. Henry found her again, threatened her very existence, and she had to escape.

She arrives at his camp like every other time, wordlessly and with moonlight shining from high above them, and as always he pours her a cup of ale - he has stolen from this particular brew from the tavern they know all too well, and he's proud of it. A favourite of his; a large vat of bitter hops and citrus.

The drink and they talk, then they drink some more and let the alcohol steer their conversations.

He asks her about the scar on her lip, something that has been itching at his curiosity for weeks, and she feels comfortable enough to tell him; nothing too exciting, just a little accident in the stables as she grew up, but she rarely gives information with receiving some in return, so she digs.

She asks about any scars he has and he happily shows her one that travels down his left arm, a defined pink line starting from his shoulder down until the middle of his bicep.

She let her tipsiness and curiosity take over and asks, "Why do have the feeling there's quite the story behind that?"

"I loathe to disappoint you, milady," he chuckles, taking a hearty gulp from his own cup. "This was simply a moment of drunken stupidity and giving that blasted sheriff the upper hand for too long."

"You boys have quite the rivalry," she smirks before sipping slowly at the dark ale, but raises an eyebrow when he scoffs lightly, telling her that she's made quite the understatement.

"He an arse," he offers bluntly. "He'd be a fool to be in my presence ever again."

"I don't doubt it," she teases, shuffling in closer to the fire. Her dress is probably going to be caked in mud and god knows what else at the end of the evening, but she can't find it in her to care.

She's cold.

He stands, but she doesn't question him, instead she focuses on the warmth from the flames. Her cup is planted firmly into the ground when she holds her jewelled hands over the pit, rubbing them together every so often, hoping that the friction will create any sort of heat along her fingers.

He surprises her slightly when a thick blanket is draped over her shoulders carefully, the warmth of her own body filling the inside of the material like a cocoon and soothing her chills.

When he sits, she smiles slyly at him, batting her heavily decorated eyes, and teases, "You've gone soft on me, thief."

"You're welcome," he laughs. "From what I know, there was once quite the chivalrous version of myself. Consider it my taking a page from his book."

 _Oh_ , she breathes and her shared memories come flooding back. Feeling Robin's love, the original Robin, is a much newer feeling, something her heroic counterpart was kind to share, but with it comes pangs of pain and hurt every now and then.

"You miss him," Robin notes, nothing horrible in his tone, just a simple observation. She's frowning softly towards the wisping flames when he adds, "Not that I can blame you. He sounds like quite the gentleman."

"He wasn't mine, though," she reminds him, reminds herself. "He never loved me."

"I doubt that that's true," he argues, shuffling closer to the fire himself. "I get the feeling that he loved every part of Regina, even the evil part."

The conversation ceases with that. She's unsure of what to say in response, so instead of digging the hole any deeper, they let silence dominate the camp and together enjoy the sounds of the forest, the whistling of the leaves, the distant critters.

Then out of nowhere he requests, "Tell me about how she met him, how they fell in love..." Regina laughs softly at his request, rendering him confused. Amused, he inquires, "Why is that funny?"

"Which time?" She asks, in no way alleviating his confusion. His eyebrows narrow in question, but he's eager and intrigued. "Robin and Regina met a number of times. Three to be exact. Each time they didn't know each other and somehow they managed to find themselves together and falling fast." Robin's smiling at her with an unfamiliar glint in his eye. "Which time would you like to hear about?"

"All of them," his eyes latch to hers, swirling with the desire to hear this story, smirking devilishly, adding an eye roll before saying, " _Please."_

"Only because you asked so nicely," she pops her lips and she explains it all as best she can.

Even though words could never do it justice, she tries.

She tells him about the day Regina saved Roland from the flying monkey, how the two soulmates were constantly teasing and at each other's throats during that pesky year in the Enchanted Forest, but how Robin was persistent. Then how the curse ravaged their memories and their relationship, but yet Robin still persisted, even in that cloudy haze of not knowing anything about her and gave Regina hope amongst her hours of the heaviest doubt. How he made her feel so loved that her heart would swell until she felt like her chest would explode. And the third time, enraptured in another curse, where all it took was a little teasing and deep stares into each other's eyes for them both to know that they were destined to be together.

"Sounds like quite the love story with those two," he nods, smiling a sweet smile that she hasn't seen before.

"It was."

She notices that he's picking around at some random pieces in the dirt, flinging the odd twig into the fire as he tries to word the question on the tip of his tongue. "Which was your favourite?" He asks.

"My favourite what?"

"Of all their stories, of all the times they met, which Robin and Regina story is your favourite?"

"Hmm," she hums, and she thinks about it, even tilts her head up to the dark night sky.

Part of her says she should lie, but that hoppy liquid is taking over and possesses her to bite her bottom lip, glazing over the forest floor and then to him with sweeter eyes than she usually allows, muttering, "This one."

He meets her with a questioning look, baffled by her answer.

"Ours," she says sincerely, clearing away the twinge of embarrassment that's formed as a lump in her throat. "Ours is my favourite."

"Ah," he smirks giddily and stretches his stein over the edge of the campfire. "Well, I can certainly drink to that."

She clinks their cups together, takes a large gulp with him and sighs contently.

But as usual, his much sassier personality has to go ahead and sneak in, joking with her, "I knew you enjoyed the view too much making me dig for those shears."

Her eyes roll instantly, and she groans, "Don't flatter yourself."

"You could have easily procured them with magic, love. And nothing you say will convince me otherwise. You wanted to watch me work."

"Believe what you want," she scoffs, hiding her hint of a smile into the near empty cup as she tips her head back to finish it off. "Just be happy I decide to keep you around."

"You like me," he continues his relentless teasing. "Admit it."

"Nope," she lets her lips pop loudly at the end of the word, darting her eyes into the fire to stop him from seeing any indication otherwise.

At least not tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Day two of Dark OQ Week!**

 **Prompt: Adapting to the EF or Wish Realm. A huge thank you to Grace for being the best bae-ta.**

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Walking through the forest is supposed to be his alone time, his personal escape. Robin can let his mind expand or let his head fill with nothingness, whichever he needs depending on the events of his day. He usually weaves his way through the trees, seeking new opportunities to increase his wealth, enjoying the way the firs seem as if they're scraping the sky.

Most of the time he's alone, his boots squishing into the dirty forest floor at a steady pace and not a distraction in sight… but not today.

She very reluctantly asked to join him and he knows she doesn't actually want to spend the day traipsing around the woods, but that it's because she's afraid to approach her castle.

The boy she once knew to consider her a mother has now made it his life goal to eliminate her and Robin can only imagine how terrible that must feel, the dread and sadness swirling around in her stomach, so he agrees to have her tag along on his walk.

And whilst he shouldn't be surprised that she's not having the most brilliant time, he is growing more and more frustrated at her small statements.

Regina's been complaining the entire time. The first hour or so, sure, she just walked peacefully behind him, as quiet as a mouse. Now she's _bored_ and her _feet hurt_ and then she's _bored_ again.

"Tell me again why I can't use my magic to get us where you want to go?" She asks, grunting as her heeled boot stabs deep into the dirt at her disgust. She's muttering a number of colourful expletives behind him.

When he turns, she's cursing her boots as she pries them from the ground, only to have the heels swallowed by the mud again.

" _Ugh_ ," she groans loudly, and the laugh erupts from his chest before he can push it back down into his belly.

Ignoring her deathly glare, he leans against the nearest tree with crossed arms and a smug grin. She's the only person in any realm who would wear this sort of outfit to walk through the forest.

Despite how much he's secretly been enjoying how those leather pants hugging every inch of her legs, how the neat red jacket pinches at her curves and the cape falls gracefully down her back to the forest floor, she is hardly dressed for an excursion through the Enchanted Forest.

"I have nowhere to be. I simply enjoy walking and appreciating the realm that is our home," he replies as he clicks his tongue, watching her struggle with her poor fashion choices.

"You said you wanted to spend the day seeing how I live, well this is it, milady. Magic-free wandering," he says as he gestures around him to the woods. "I'm sorry if it's not up to your _regal_ standards," he mocks, biting his lower lip, far too proud of himself.

She straightens, seemingly giving up on saving herself from the prison of mud. Her hands perch on her hips and she glares at him again, squinting her eyes closed in concentration and suddenly he's falling through a mist of purple smoke, the tree he was perched on gone, whisked away by her magic.

He crashes to the ground with an _oomph!_ and he rolls on his front, muttering under his breath.

She's driving him nuts. She's infuriating and gorgeous and - wait - no, she's _infuriating_ and borderline childish and… and absolutely stunning, damn it!

Most of their encounters end this way. Not with him on the ground thankfully, but with he and Regina participating in a sass off and Regina always being the one with the smug look on her face as he trips over himself to keep up.

Not today.

"That's it," he breathes harshly, pushing on his palm to stand up from his fall. He marches towards her and her sly smirk dissolves into something else. The closer he gets, the more she seems concerned and when he reaches around her middle to toss her over his shoulder, she fights him entirely.

She beats against his lower back, swings her legs around. "Put me down!"

But he doesn't. He makes sure he won't drop her, slides his hand up the smooth leather on her thighs and bracing her in place, one hand clutching at the highest point on her thigh, the other on her hip.

Ignoring her plea, he starts walking like before, trying to enjoy the forest, even with a wriggling queen draped over his shoulder.

"I swear, if you don't put me down right now, you will learn all too well just how evil I can be," she mutters bitterly as her arms give up and dangle down behind him.

Her mouth never stops running, though. He'd never call her out on it, but she's smirking, he can hear it in her voice, even over the bite.

"This is my favourite part of our land," he says loudly over her arguing, he twists around dramatically, making her yelp and he continues on with his emphasised tour of the land she knows like the back of her hand. "We have trees on your right," he says theatrically, "Trees on your left…"

When she loosens up and giggles, even though it is short lived and coughed away, his knees weaken. She's given up fighting him entirely and is letting him have a little fun. And fun they shall have.

With a firm bite to his bottom lip, he picks up the pace a bit, not to a run but to a swift power walk straight ahead.

She hasn't a clue what she's in for, and she is most certainly going to tear him a new one, but this opportunity is far too good to pass it up.

Robin waits until the last second, before saying playfully, "and we have now reached my favourite swimming spot-"

"Don't you dare," Regina all but squeals and she tries to wriggle out of his grasp again but she's too late, despite her best effort.

Robin launches them off a small landing, one that he has a million times before, without an ounce of fear, and Regina yelps his name as she grips onto him tightly. Together they drop down and down and down until their bodies hit the crystal clear water of the lake beneath them.

Robin releases her body in the water, glances to make sure she's okay. He assumes she can swim, but perhaps asking beforehand would have been better, but she's fine.

She's fine enough to be scowling at him through the fresh water before starting to kick her feet and pull herself up, and he follows her to the top of the water.

She's gasping for air when he surfaces, not letting any time be wasted before chastising him. "You _reckless_ , idiotic, sorry excuse for an… _anything._ I am a queen, you imbecile. You hoist me up onto your peasant shoulder like I am nothing more than a sack of potatoes and then you have the audacity to plummet from a cliff-"

When he starts laughing, she swallows back her insults with a glare. "You could have used your magic to get you out of all of this," he reminds her with a raised eyebrow, still treading water with him, their rhythm perfectly in tandem. "Is it really my fault that you didn't?"

"I… You…" She's fumbling on her words. He's caught her in a little trap and he's loving it. But she tries to catch herself. "You asked for no magic. I was simply following your rules."

"When have you ever followed the rules, your majesty?" He asks, leaning back into a backstroke to the nearest lakeside.

He's dripping wet when he pulls himself out of the water and Regina is surprisingly close behind, completely bone dry - her makeup intact, perfect actually. Her hair looks better than before, her clothes dry and warm.

"Care to share that skill of yours?" He asks, holding his arms out. His clothes are literally dripping down onto the grass.

"You said _no magic_ ," she mocks with air quotes, pursing her lips playfully as she walks passed him. "So, you're on your own… you moron," she tosses in, and he chuckles under his breath.

Perhaps next time, Regina will be choosing how they spend their afternoon.


End file.
